David Buisseret – författare

This illustrated reference work covers all aspects of world exploration from Antarctica to the North Pole; from the discovery of the New World to the age of space exploration. The companion features 750 articles, carefully selected by a distinguished group of editors and advisers to examine exploration from different angles: thematically, geographically, historically, and biographically. The Oxford Companion to World Exploration is available in a two volume print version and as an e-reference text from Oxford's Digital Reference Shelf.Topics include:· Biographies of influential explorers such as Ferdinand Magellan, Cheng Ho, Hernán Cortés, Ibn Battuta, Vitus Bering, and Christopher Columbus· Navigational and marine sciences, navigational techniques, ancient and medieval navigation, ocean currents and winds, longitude and aerial surveys· Exploration in ancient cultures including Egypt, Persia, Greece, Byzantium, China, Polynesia, and Rome.Each entry is signed by a leading scholar in the field and contains a further reading bibliography and is cross-referenced to other useful articles.

First published in 1984, Henry IV describes and tries to account for Henry’s extraordinary life and reign. The book is accompanied, and the arguments are strengthened by numerous plates and maps.The life of Henry IV of France was not only dramatic, but it also made a profound difference to the shaping of France in the early 17th century. During his reign, the foundations of the ‘grand siècle’ were laid, not only in military and diplomatic affairs, but also in the arts.Almost as striking as the personal contribution made by the king, is the remarkable willingness of the French nobility to wreck the whole recovery from forty years of domestic chaos by plotting with the Spaniards. Eventually, of course, one of these plots succeeded; Henry was killed, and the kingdom was plunged for a while into chaos. This book is a must read for students and researchers of French history.

First published in 1984, Henry IV describes and tries to account for Henry’s extraordinary life and reign. The book is accompanied, and the arguments are strengthened by numerous plates and maps.The life of Henry IV of France was not only dramatic, but it also made a profound difference to the shaping of France in the early 17th century. During his reign, the foundations of the ‘grand siècle’ were laid, not only in military and diplomatic affairs, but also in the arts.Almost as striking as the personal contribution made by the king, is the remarkable willingness of the French nobility to wreck the whole recovery from forty years of domestic chaos by plotting with the Spaniards. Eventually, of course, one of these plots succeeded; Henry was killed, and the kingdom was plunged for a while into chaos. This book is a must read for students and researchers of French history.

A study of the establishment of the town of Port Royal, Jamaica, in the second half of the 17th century, the heyday of privateering. The town was critical to the successful British colonization of Jamaica and pivotal to British mercantile activity, but is best known for its swashbuckling pirates.

This remarkable description of Jamaica in the 1680s was written by a contemporary English observer, John Taylor, who spent some months on the island. The original manuscript is held by the National Library of Jamaica, and has rarely been used by scholars. It contains information about Jamaica under the Spaniards, about the English invasion of 1655 and about the formation of the subsequent society, including the treatment of slaves. There are sections on the island’s settlement and architecture, including a particularly full description of Port Royal. John Taylor sets out fifty current laws, many of them unknown to other such collections. He also carefully explains the nature of Jamaica’s birds, beasts and plants. Taylor offers an image of the island before the general spread of sugar cultivation, citing some creatures now extinct in Jamaica; he also makes many suggestions about the medical use of natural products. His world is still one in which certain places are enchanted, though he also describes an island whose main features will be entirely familiar to modern Jamaicans. His language is a piquant mixture, drawn from medieval England, from North America and even from the Orient, reflecting the fact that this was the first period of major English commercial expansion.